20 September 2011

Tuesday’s Tip – Penny For Your Thoughts?

As often happens with genealogical research, I took a bit of
a hiatus from my blogging. It certainly wasn’t intentional, but life happens.
Heh. So, if you’re new here, or just need a quick ‘catch-up’, I’m a consulting
Archivist who’s been doing my own genealogical research for a little over 15
years. I was spurred into action by the death of my grandmother (she was 97!),
and my mom’s wish to find out if we were really eligible to be members of the
Daughters of the American Revolution and descendants of William Penn (yes and
no). By early 1997, I’d found a line (Burrows) that confirmed our eligibility
for the DAR and our paperwork was on its way. But I’d caught the bug. It’s not
so much a bug as a…a passion, for genealogy.

Of course, doing research in 1997 was very different from
today when we have so many wonderful on-line resources available to us. It’s
truly remarkable the amount of material that’s been digitized or indexed, and
how easy it is to locate. Websites such as Cyndi’s List and Heritage Quest make
getting accurate and reliable information easier still. And of course, there
are the ‘tried and true’s; places like the Newberry Library, LDS, local
historical repositories, etc. for locating evidence of our ancestors.

But what about non-traditional resources? I found one that
would have NEVER occurred to me. I blogged about the fact my family’s oral
history included a story that one (or more) of my ancestors emigrated from
Europe in the 1860s, but came to the United States via Brazil. When a
benevolent distant cousin sent me a letter, there was also mention of Brazil. I
was truly confounded by how, and more importantly why, anyone would have
purposely gone to Brazil in the early 1860s from Europe.

I hope you’ll humor me the quick history lesson, since I
found this fascinating, and pertinent, to my search. Brazil was ruled by
Emperor Dom Pedro II from 1831 to 1889. He was the son of Pedro I of Brazil,
also known as Pedro IV of Portugal and Maria Leopoldina of Austria. He was only
5 when his father abdicated and returned to Portugal. His rule was long and
beneficial for Brazil with the height of his reign falling in the late 1850s to
mid 1860s, right about the time my ancestors would have been there.

How could I find out whether or not they’d actually been
there? Again, keep in mind, this is 1997. There weren’t a lot of resources for
Brazilian information, and the little bit was in Portuguese…which I hadn’t
learned yet. (I know enough to be dangerous). I threw up my hands in
frustration, and moved on to verifying other lines in the family.

And then, one afternoon somewhere around 2006, while I was
visiting my parents, my mom asked me if I’d take her father’s coin collection
to have it appraised.Victor Wersel had
kept it as one of his prized possessions, and my mom held onto it dearly as a
remembrance of him. But times were tight, and she was hoping to be able to
possibly sell some of it. I took the collection, having no intention of parting
with this treasured family keepsake. Whenever mom asked about it, I always told
her that I hadn’t gotten around to locating someone to look at it; in a few
years time, with her memory failing her, she stopped asking.

Late last year, I was cleaning out my “research closet”, the
closet where I keep my Hollinger boxes filled with my research, when I saw the
leather binder of coins. It was a dreary day, and I decided to take it out,
scan the coins so I’d have a visual record of each one, and create a proper inventory
for insurance purposes. Guess what I found?

That’s right! This is a 40 reis coin from Brazil. There’s
also a 20 reis coin that’s worn too badly to be able to date. But, I am
confident, confident, that this coin did not find its way surreptitiously into
my grandfather’s collection. It is just one more piece in the puzzle, and a
wonderful, albeit untraditional, resource for my research. What resources have
you come upon that may not be ‘mainstream’?

Marian, thanks for your comment! That's what appeals to me the most about genealogical research...you MUST be creative in locating the pieces of the puzzle. And thank you, for taking the time to read my blog...I appreciate it!

Marian, thanks for your comment! That's what appeals to me the most about genealogical research...you MUST be creative in locating the pieces of the puzzle. And thank you, for taking the time to read my blog...I appreciate it!

Pages

Search This Blog

Follow by Email

FGS2015

Copyright

The contents and photos herein shall not be used on another site, or reproduced in any manner without the prior written consent of the author and blog owner. You may not use the contents of this site for commercial purposes without explicit permission from the author and blog owner. Commercial purposes includes blogs with ads and income generating features, and/or blogs or sites using feed content as a replacement for original content. Full content usage is not permitted.